Tears streamed down Joyce Treen’s cheeks Monday as she learned that students from Eastern Passage will soon be able to go to high school in their own community.

“It is the best day for our kids and our community,” said the Eastern Passage resident, who has lobbied for a high school in the community since her son, Ryder, 12, was a baby.

“I couldn’t believe it when the words came out of their mouths,” she said. “All I could do is cry.”

On Monday, Premier Darrell Dexter announced the province is investing $15 million to renovate an existing Eastern Passage school so it can house grade 10 to 12 students. Eastern Passage students currently attend high school in Cole Harbour.

The renovation will free up space at Cole Harbour District High School, which is getting $10 million from the province for a new skilled trades centre and other upgrades.

The centre will offer a new manufacturing trades course for high school students linked to shipbuilding.

“What that means is that there are students that are going to be coming into (Cole Harbour) from around HRM, particularly from (the Dartmouth) side of the harbour,” said Dexter.

“By keeping Eastern Passage high school students in Eastern Passage, we could achieve the goals that (residents) have long held for this community, and at the same time achieve the goals that we wanted to achieve with respect to the skilled trades centre,” Dexter said after the announcements made at Cole Harbour High and Eastern Passage’s Seaside Elementary School.

Irving’s Halifax Shipyard was recently awarded a $25-billion shipbuilding contract to build the Canadian navy’s new combat fleet.

Hundreds of young people are on waiting lists for skilled trades programs, said Dexter.

As part of the province’s new education plan, the number of schools in Nova Scotia offering skilled trades programs is expected to double to 18 in the next four years.

The $25-million investment for Eastern Passage and Cole Harbour is coming from the province’s capital budget, and not from the Halifax regional school board’s existing capital budget. Changes are expected to be made by September 2014.

Cole Harbour District High will continue to offer regular academic programs in addition to skilled trades programs.

The province said it is also establishing a $5-million fund to support the establishment of skilled trades centres in other parts of the province.

Duncan Williams, president of the Construction Association of Nova Scotia, praised the investments in skilled trades in high schools.

“This is a critical step in preparing our workforce to seize the incredible opportunities ahead and increase our ability to compete on a global basis,” he said in a release.

Loud cheers erupted from a crowd of parents, students and teachers when Dexter announced that the high school was coming to Eastern Passage.

People have been pushing for an area high school for many years, said Becky Kent, MLA for Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage.

The community currently has one junior high school and three elementary schools.

“As recently as three days ago, I was asked by a student at junior high, ‘Will we ever get our high school?’ I was bursting at the seams,” she said.

There are many unknowns in relation to the logistics of the high school addition, such as which existing school will be renovated and how many high school students it will house. The province will be working with the Halifax regional board to sort out those questions, she said.

Irvine Carvery, chairman of the Halifax board, said he expects the new high school will accommodate about 400 students. However, Kent said she expects it will be larger.

Chris Peters, an Eastern Passage father of two young children, said he is elated they will be able to go to high school in their own community.

“Our kids won’t have to wait in the school bus lineup at 6:30, 7 o’clock in the morning to go to school. Our kids will be able to fully appreciate and take advantage of all the sports and extracurricular activities that high schools are made for.”

Treen, who has been leading lobbying efforts for a high school over the past couple of years, said large numbers of people from the community have been involved in the fight for many years.